Gibson 1938 ES150
The above photo is a beautiful example of Gibson's early electrics. Along with the late '30's ES150, Gibson also made the ES100, ES250, ETG150 (electric tenor guitar), EM150 (electric mandolin), EM100, and ETB150(electric tenor banjo). Almost all of these instruments are found on this site.
The above photo comes from Gibson's Mastertone System For Steel Guitar, 1940. The system came in 4 parts with 12 pieces of sheet music lessons per part. Each part was assigned a color for varying degrees of difficulty. The colors were, peach, blue, magenta and orange. To view the learning systems, just click Gibson sheet music.
An interesting aspect of working on this site is the fact that I have the chance to photograph, document and write about the pieces in my collection. It is a continual state of learning (consulting Gibson books, literature and catalogs for facts).As I document, sometimes questions present themselves.
The above ES150, my first electric prewar Gibson, purchased from Elderly Instruments in Southern California was purchased as a refinish. All of the components (inside and out) are period correct for one of the first Gibson electric Guitars.
What is interesting, according to the chart above by Joesph Spann, is that the letters 'DG' would be a 1938 Gibson (non-electric) and 'DGE' would be a 1938 Gibson electric.
Joe Spann did notice this guitar on the site and stated, 'it is extremely odd that this guitar's serial number does not start with a three-letter-prefix, as would be correct for an original ES-150. The serial number should start with DGE, not DG.' He did consult the actual Gibson books and added, 'according to the original Gibson shipping ledgers DG-2053 (my guitar) was an ES-150 shipped on 14 April 1938 to Spence Music Company of Zanesville, Ohio in a #534 case.'
What is interesting is that Mr. Spann did note, for example another guitar, (serial number DG-2078) was a non-electric L-50 shipped on 10 August 1938 (according to the original ledgers). Both the L-50 and ES-150 have the exact same features, sans the electronics on the L-50. According to Joe Spann's chart above, my ES-150, stamped with DG-2053 (not DGE) may have been destined to be a regular L-50. However, since both L-50 and ES-150 are essentially the same, my guitar may have been pre-stamped with an L-50 serial number, but used as an ES-150. None-the-less, it is great to be able to include the facts on this guitar thanks to factual information from the original Gibson shipping ledgers.